I just read the article in Tom's hardware about HT (Virtual SMP) in the new P4.

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/02q4/021114/index.html

They have a nice little video showing that in real life scenario the HT technology running on a P4 at 3 GHz can wipe the floor with a P4 3.6GHz without HT.

http://www4.tomshardware.com/images/...eo_5_p4_ht.zip

Here's a few remarks I wanted to share:

It seems HT works very well for multitasking users (have 3-4 high CPU usage apps running) but I think Tom's article is incomplete.

With the cost of P4 3 GHz + RDRAM PC1066 and a good quality P4 mobo you can easily buy a Dual Athlon MP (True SMP) system.

I think that Dual Athlon MP 2200+ with PC2100 DDR on a AMD 760MPX board would wipe the floor with the virtual SMP capabilities of the P4 3GHz.

As far as value for money is concerend AMD wins again.

Intel Setup:
I would estimate the P4 3GHz HT to be around $450 when it's finally out.
Asus P4T533-C ($160)
512MB of Samsung PC1066 ($290)
Total for this setup: $900

AMD setup:
2x AMD Athlon MP 2200+ ($408)
Asus A7M266-D ($215)
512MB PC2100 DDR266 ($136)
Total for this setup: ($759)

I would really like to see a head to head between two such systems

I think that unless you could get the P4 3 GHz HT for less then $350 it's already lost the battle.

One thing I will give to Intel - bravo for innovation.
Now please try to be reasonable with prices.

Just my 2 cents.